Parental psychopathology and posttraumatic stress in Puerto Ricans: the role of childhood adversity and parenting practices

Jenny Zhen-Duan; Kiara Alvarez; Lulu Zhang; Mario Cruz-Gonzalez; Josephine Kuo; Irene Falgas-Bagué; Hector Bird; Glorisa Canino; Cristiane S Duarte; Margarita Alegría

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13902

Parental psychopathology and posttraumatic stress in Puerto Ricans: the role of childhood adversity and parenting practices

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 18:10.1111/jcpp.13902. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13902. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jenny Zhen-Duan^{1

2}, Kiara Alvarez³, Lulu Zhang¹, Mario Cruz-Gonzalez^{1

4}, Josephine Kuo^{1

5}, Irene Falgas-Bagué¹, Hector Bird⁶, Glorisa Canino⁷, Cristiane S Duarte⁶, Margarita Alegría^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Disparities Research Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
² Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Community Health, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University - New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, USA.

PMID: 37850715
PMCID: PMC11024057 (available on 2025-04-18)
DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13902

Abstract

Background: Parental psychopathology is associated with their children's posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). However, the mechanisms through which this occurs remain unclear. We hypothesized that exposure to childhood adversities is the mechanism linking parental psychopathology to child PTSS and that parenting practices moderated these associations.

Methods: Participants (N = 1,402) with an average age of 24.03 years old (SD = 2.20), were all Puerto Ricans (50% Male and 50% Female) from the Boricua Youth Study, which is a four-wave longitudinal study spanning almost 20 years, following individuals from childhood (ages 5-13 at Wave 1) to young adulthood. Measured variables include parental psychopathology at Wave 1, childhood adversities and parenting practices at Waves 2-3, and PTSS at Wave 4. A traditional mediation model estimated the association between parental psychopathology and child PTSS via childhood adversities. A moderated mediation model was used to examine whether parenting practices moderated this mediation model.

Results: Results showed that the total effect of parental psychopathology at Wave 1 on PTSS at Wave 4 was fully mediated by childhood adversities at Waves 2-3 (direct effect b = 1.72, 95% CI = [-0.09, 3.83]; indirect effect b = 0.40, 95% CI = [0.15, 0.81]). In addition, the magnitude of this pathway varied by levels of parenting practices (i.e. parental monitoring and parent-child relationship quality). Specifically, the indirect effect of additional adversities in the psychopathology-PTSS link was stronger with higher levels of parental monitoring but weaker with higher parent-child relationship quality scores.

Conclusions: Intergenerational continuity of psychopathology may be mitigated through the prevention of additional childhood adversities via upstream interventions, emphasizing providing parents with mental health needs with parenting tools. Family-based interventions focused on providing families with the tools to improve parent-child relationships may reduce the negative impact of childhood adversities on mental health across the life course.

Keywords: Latinx; childhood adversities; children; parenting; posttraumatic stress; psychopathology; young adults.

Abstract

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